Nets' Kidd Is Coming Of Age

December 8, 2001|By Ohm Youngmisuk New York Daily News

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The biggest trade in recent New Jersey Nets history is only hours old and Jason Kidd and his family have no idea as they pull into a Phoenix Taco Bell drive-thru line in his sparkling Cadillac Escalade.

Kidd, his "very pregnant" wife Joumana and 3-year-old son T.J. ponder whether to have chalupas or gorditas on this June day in the desert, when Joumana's cell phone rings. It's a friend from a TV station asking if they can stop by the Kidds' Paradise Valley home to get a statement on the trade.

"You mean Mike Bibby and Jason Williams?" Joumana asks.

That's when they get the stunning news: Jason Kidd, the reigning assists king, master of the triple-double and perennial All-Star had been traded to the New Jersey swamps for Stephon Marbury.

"What?" blurts out Joumana, her appetite gone. She explains to Kidd that he has been dealt, their life slam dunked at Taco Bell. Meanwhile, all her husband has to say is, "I'll have a number three."

"Here I am in shock," Joumana recalls last week. "I'm thinking, `What is this guy made of?' He still ordered for him and T.J."

The deal didn't come as a surprise to Kidd. When he cleaned out his locker following the Suns' Game 4 first-round loss to Sacramento, he told close friends he thought he was going to be traded. Now, with Taco Bell as their witness, it had become a reality.

As Joumana leaves a sarcastic message for Suns owner Jerry Colangelo thanking him for not breaking the news personally, Kidd is already plotting how many games the Nets will win this season.

Like a handyman, Kidd is prepared to fix any situation. He took California's basketball program to national prominence before plugging holes in Dallas and then helping Phoenix to five consecutive postseason appearances. The early returns on his latest project indicate another success, with the Nets in first place in the Atlantic Division.

But Kidd's most challenging task is saving his marriage. He says the determination he displays on the hardwood is nothing compared to the work he's finally putting in at home to cure him and his family of last January's domestic abuse arrest.

Kidd is also driven to turn the Nets into yearly playoff participants if New Jersey can convince him and his family to stay beyond his contract, which has an option following next season.

"I've learned if you look at the bad, you set yourself up for failure," Kidd says. "I told my wife it is all going to work out. In the long run, this is going to be a good thing."

And it has been for him and his family.

"It has been a great year overall," Kidd says. "Learning from your mistakes but also thriving on what you do well. Familywise, everything is going great. Basketball is going great. Everything is going in the right direction. Just like when you are on a winning streak, you want to bottle it up and remember how it feels."